Technological Conveniences

I’m not a very traditional writer.

That is to say that I don’t like writing long hand on paper; I don’t use typewriters though I’d very much like my own; and I have a notebook but it sometimes just isn’t enough.

Sometimes, I still write long hand. But that’s very rare, and it usually ends up with me doing more writing than I probably should, given how I will most likely end up rewriting it several times. I’m just correction-prone. But my rare venture into pen-and-paper territory has more to do with the way I’ve learnt to work.

In general, I write in a bunch of fragments. I have these things in my head that I can use so I put them all down in roughly chronological order and it gives me an idea of where to go and what to do. I’m just that way. And usually I can find something to do to some part somewhere so I don’t spend a lot of time getting stuck very often. It’s a curious cross between the inspiration behind the work and the more mechanical side to it.

So, what I mean is, thank goodness for word processors. Because I don’t write linearly and correct massively as I go along, I can’t really use long hand (unless I do flash cards, which is probably more trouble than it’s worth), and I don’t do typewriters too.

I also have a lovely red Moleskine notebook. I’ve been using notebooks for a long time now. It’s a habit I picked up in secondary school, when I was a silly young boy who liked to plot silly young boy things. The planning was just the most wonderful part of it all back then. (It probably isn’t any longer.)

But sometimes, a notebook isn’t enough. Say I’m at some social function, or maybe I’m waiting at a traffic light for the green man to appear. Suddenly a line occurs to me, or something. An idea, perhaps. It’s just not really all that feasible to start retrieving my notebook and my stationery. Most of the time, I note these down in SMS form.

Besides these examples, I usually do up a to-do list for work on a Notepad file. It’s faster than writing it out, and changing it is a lot simpler. Also, my only link with the outside world while I work is technological. I communicate with people online and I keep myself in touch with the news on the computer. I’m not really one of those writers who sits down with impenetrable concentration and refuses to talk to anyone. I’d probably go insane.

And music. I’d be swapping a lot of CDs if my music wasn’t digital. And I more or less cannot work without music.

Technology is wonderful.

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55 parts; few dollars.

55 Parts

I’ve decided to take a different approach to work in what I hope is the final run-in for the first draft. I wrote down all the parts that I’ve yet to complete, totalling 55, and will be working to finish them up part by part. I’ve already crossed of one of them because it was just short of a few words and I did that just now. Well, here’s hoping that it really is the final stretch.

Money

Holidays should be about spending money. You shouldn’t have to worry too much about spending on this or that. Particularly not during the Great Singapore Sale. But I’m trying really hard to avoid overspending. Yesterday I was at the PC Show (Is it the PC Show? Or is it the IT Show? IT Fair?) and thought of buying a couple of things, mostly memory in the form of SD cards, flash drives and portable hard disks. I never got to it because I thought I had to be careful with my money even if reasonably sized SDHC cards and flash drives go for fifteen bucks these days.

Which is just as well because Steam put up offers for Morrowind and Oblivion, the first of which I’ve been meaning to get to and the latter I already own on disc but without the expansions/DLC, so it was all good.

Computing, Et Cetera

Speaking of the IT Show, I was actually looking at computers because my desktop probably has to be replaced like very soon, particularly since Office 2010 is starting to show up on systems, so now is probably as good a time as ever. I had been looking for a notebook thinking that I need one, but I don’t think so anymore, and I can’t find one that really attracts me anyway.

I was also looking for camera upgrades, as you know, and I was thinking of a smaller camera. I’m still fluctuating, though. I kind of think now that I’m leaning more towards getting my two-lens Nikon kit and maybe upgrading the body in the future. If I can find a respectable second-hand lens and bear to part with the money, that is. We’ll see. But since I’m a little short on funds, I guess my indecision is a good thing. And so is my change of plans with the notebook.

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Updates

Work

I’m kind of at the stage where I want to wrap things up, so every day I set my mind to completing this bit and that bit. I had a target word count in mind, an estimation of some sort, but it looks a little as if I might overrun that. I’m not very sure. I’m never very sure about these things, but I do that to give myself some remotely concrete destination to keep in my sights and also to figure out the scale of the project. It’s just the way that I work.

Like I said, though, I’m in the closing stages of the first draft. Things actually look very uncertain now in the sense that there are portions I still don’t know what to do with, but it’s all gathering some kind of momentum and it feels a tiny bit different these days. One of the important things is that I’m trying not to mess things around too much because this is roughly where I should say everything is where it should be. It sounds like it doesn’t make a lot of sense but that’s just the way it is until you have a go at it.

Yesterday, someone asked me what I think about my work so far. I’m not sure. I’m actually trying very hard not to think about it, in the sense that I think he means, because sometimes it just drives you crazy and you give up on it completely. At the same time, I thought about what the book’s actually about and was satisfied when I couldn’t really give some kind of definitive answer. While that’ll probably be a problem when I get to writing the pitch, for now it implies that I have no idea what I’m writing about; I have very bad summary skills; or it refuses to be reduced to some kind of summary, to some extent.

While the last possibility might not be the most likely, at least it’s there to begin with.

Miscellany

Ah yes, it will be time to choose my final year project soon. I’m kind of nervy. I have no idea what’s going to happen. I’m determined to make it a good experience, and in a way, I’m looking forward to it.

I kind of want to catch The Full Monty, but I don’t feel like going alone and I suspect this means I’ll be giving it a miss. From experience, anyway.

My book club moves into its second phase this week, but I get the feeling that if it’s going to die, this is pretty much where it will choose to die.

I’m beginning to think I want a small camera more than a large one, though I’m still considering.

Still have yet to put up my things, the whiteboard and the prints. Will get to it soon.

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Shelf Life

Yesterday, a couple of pieces of furniture arrived, including a new bookshelf, so I took the chance to rearrange all of my books. I also had to pack up some of the old stuff on the old rack, action figures and the like, so it took a while before everything got settled. Here are some photos in case you ever wondered what my shelf looks like.

Here’s a picture of the old rack where I displayed some things. I had to clear this out because there isn’t space for it anymore.

These are some of the things I displayed. They’re going to some dark corner, or some happy buyer.

Here are the empty shelves. The new one is on the right.

I wanted to sort out all of my books properly, so I took them all out. Here you see all of them on the floor, about 250 of them and 30 waiting to join them. You’ll also notice a jar under my bed. That’s my pencil jar. Beside the jar are an assortment of little things, mostly keepsakes and mementos, because I’m too sentimental for my own good. These sit in the free spaces of my bookshelves.

Photography books went in here. The space here is slightly longer. We chose this new piece of furniture deliberately because it’ll accommodate the larger photography books.

Here are the books all sorted out. On the left shelf, you’ll find most of the fiction. Of interest, there’s a music section in the lower part of the shelf. The right shelf comprises mostly of graphic novels. There’s a section for academic writing and other forms of non-fiction. There’s also a children’s section right at the top. It all looks rather empty now, but I’m sure it won’t be long before it fills up.

There’s some stuff left to do before I can consider the packing done. One of those things is hanging up these lumadessa prints, which I received for my birthday all those months ago.

Looking ahead, I’ll want to fill up that top space so that the jar isn’t so lonely. I’m also trying to think up a nice way to make platforms such that more books can go in. The problem with that is that the books are all of different sizes so I can’t just put planks in or the like.

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A-OK?

Results came out today, and as always, armed with the capacity to surprise. Overall, not too bad, not too good. Certainly I did worse for a couple of subjects than I thought I would, but the real surprise came in a B-. I thought I would have done significantly better for that.

I did okay for all the subjects I thought I had a real shot at. I had an A+, which was unusual, and it came in a subject that I didn’t expect to get an A+ for. Sociology, that is. I’ve never ever done Sociology before, and I wasn’t starting from the basics, and through the thing I was always aware that I found it slanting towards the challenging side, so it was really unexpected.

I didn’t screw up Literature, which was a kind of a perverse relief, I guess. I mean, it basically has no bearing on my work, but you can’t help relating the two somehow.

In all, I have to say I’m a bit disappointed, but just a little bit. It’s because I had a tiny good feeling coming from two of the subjects, but they evaporated almost instantaneously when the results showed up. Still, at least I didn’t goof too awfully. It just wasn’t as good as I had hoped for it to be, even if realistically my expectations weren’t too high.

On a side note, it wasn’t all that vexing checking the results this year, so I must congratulate the NUS IT department for apparently fixing things up properly.

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Unscheduled Downtime

So here is a post where I’m actually very sleepy. It wasn’t supposed to show up now, but there were some technical problems that I believe the Web Walrus has fixed. I mean, who else could have done such miraculous work? We were actually back up about 24 hours ago, I think, but I was out the whole day and didn’t get back to it until, well, now.

I’m very tired now. It is a good time to sleep. Particularly because I need to get up early tomorrow despite it being a public holiday. Of course, every time I say something like this, it means I probably won’t be sleeping any time soon.

Today was a particularly hot day. That is, even for our sunny country. I guess I picked the wrong day to have a rest. While I was doing my laces before leaving the house, I’d already begun to sweat. And of all things, I had to spend the whole day outside, walking in the open quite a bit too.

This looks like a busy weekend, and I’m not sure how much work I’m going to get done, but I’d expected weeks like this. It’s why I don’t feel particularly good about myself whenever I seem to be cutting into bonus territory. Typically it ends up being a sort of buffer for days like these.

The book club is… hmm, it’s probably too early to tell. I have cause for optimism and also cause for pessimism. I think we’ll see in a week or two.

I’m not particularly tired now, but judging by the structure of this post, my brain is already working out of order. Just let me ramble for a tiny bit more.

It was nice to see all of those friends today. Sure beats the typical stay-at-your-desk day, but it can’t happen every day. Partly because I need to work. Partly because they need to work. And partly because we would really get sick of one another.

I want to drop by at IKEA and get one of those glass oh wait I think I’ve mentioned this before.

Results are coming out on Monday. Exciting times, these. I don’t really know what to expect, particularly because NUS results days are like a whole season of 24.

Finally, I want to say that I just finished Flowers For Algernon, one of my first loves, for the second time. I think I look at it very differently now, though. I also bought a book for two dollars yesterday. It’s a second-hand (third? fourth? fifth?) copy of Imre Kertész’s Fatelessness.

Okay, I’m done for the night.

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Link Rojak!

It’s been a while since I did one of these.

Christopher Uminga renders your superheroes in his adorable fashion. [via WildAmmo.com]

Oh I suppose it’s been a couple of days now, but happy birthday, The Empire Strikes Back! [via Wikipedia]

“i am merely giving you your problem” [via pictures for sad children]

Why is Middlesex University philosophy department closing? [via The Guardian]

Vernon Lott makes a documentary on Bad Writing. [via The Book Bench]

The Singapore navy is testing a remote-controlled, mine-hunting vessel. Go, Singapore! [via PhysOrg]

On A High Wind In Jamaica. [via The Millions]

Inter Milan (and Jose Mourinho) win the Champions League. [via ESPNsoccernet]

Marco Benevento has a new album, and here’s a nice article about it. [via Hidden Track]

Dinner plates with useful graphs about global food consumption. (Including fresh water consumption.) [via Josh Spear]

All right, that’s it for today. Have an excellent Monday, everyone!

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Needs a break.

Chain Contingency

I need to do something different. One of these days, I always tell myself. One of these days. Then the next day comes and I’m right back at work, no variations, no weekends, nothing. Just work, work, work. (Not having weekends is actually nothing horrible except that it distorts your idea of the week.) It’s actually all going quite okay, but I’m afraid that it’ll affect me sooner or later, so I better get a contingency planned soon.

Diary of a Bad Ear

Meanwhile, I picked up a ear infection. The last time I had one, I was still in primary school. It was about the time we went for a sea cruise. I remember a few sadist doctors doing very mean things on my ear, such as attempting to wash it with a water jet. One of the specialists eventually (and I do mean eventually) came to my rescue with antibiotic eardrops. I’ve got those this time again and it doesn’t seem as serious this time. Fingers crossed.

Results

Oh dear, results will be in in a week and a half. I suppose there’s nothing that I should be worrying about, but you can never really tell, can you? If there’s one thing I’ve learnt in NUS, it’s that results have a tendency to surprise you. On a lighter note, I’ve tried not to spend my money on anything in this couple of weeks (and the one to follow) both because of the GSS and also because it’ll be nice to be able to buy myself a little something if my results turn out okay. I’m thinking something to do with clothes, though I haven’t made up my mind yet.

Beginnings

These are exciting times. The book club officially begins life on Monday. I don’t know if it’ll work. I can’t remember the last time I was so uncertain about any such enterprise, but let’s keep it positive, optimistic, and whatnot. I think it might stand a chance, but all I really can do is to make sure I do my job well as the proprietor. The rest of it will of course depend on the club roster. But it looks okay. I think it’ll be okay. Please be okay.

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The biggest milestone in a while.

So as expected, I crossed the barrier yesterday and reached the biggest milestone in a while. No, it’s not finished, far from it, but it’s nice to think that I’ve managed okay up until now.

I’m about two-thirds of the way through the whole thing. Of course, I don’t actually have a very clear idea of how much there is left, as usual, so that’s a really suspicious kind of estimation. I keep thinking that I actually have more than a third to finish, but I suspect I might complete it even before I get to the expected number. It’s the contradictory way that these things tend to turn out somehow.

I’m hoping nothing changes in the sense that I can keep up with the err good work. I’ve been going at what I think is a reasonable pace (I’m generally a slow worker), and I haven’t had a burnt-out episode yet. So I’ve been healthy, in that sense, and that will optimistically continue.

What I need to change, though is my method of working. I figure that with a third to go and given the way in which I write, this will probably be a good time to actually start completing the things that I’ve started. That is, I think I should start looking at all the stray bits that I’ve got and putting it together. It’s just the way that I work. I hope I’ve done enough to sustain any such efforts. If not, I’ll end up going back to putting bits and pieces together.

Meanwhile, my book club hasn’t officially kicked off yet, but people seem impatient. I suppose that’s a good sign. Hooray.

Now I’m going to take a break before getting to work again.

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Mondays, mondays.

Oh, look, it’s Monday. What a surprise.

This week, I’m going back to camp for some physical training before my IPPT. That’s a ways away, so this thing will last a few weeks.

Apart from that, I’m also gunning for a giant milestone with respect to my current project. I think I might hit it by tomorrow or Wednesday. I can’t really tell. I’m unpredictable in that sort of way, even as I try to assert a degree of routine into my work. The thing that remains predictable, however, is that I’m a relatively slow worker.

My book club is supposed to get started next week, so this week will likely be used to make preparations of some sort. Saying that is comforting because it makes me feel like there is something to prepare for. The truth is, I don’t actually know. We’re doing Kazuo Ishiguro’s Nocturnes (did I say that already?) and taking it all very slow. I hope it’s a nice book, and I hope we talk about interesting things. Most of all, I hope it’ll be fun.

I think new furniture is supposed to arrive this week or the next. My bookshelf is one of the pieces, and it looks like we’ll be sorting the whole library all over again. I’m considering sorting books by different categories, and by first names instead of last (a practice that I have in place now), and we’re also thinking about ways to expand the storage capacity since we don’t have all that much room and the number of books is only going to get larger.

I should drop by at IKEA one of these days and get those lovely glass things that look like candy containers. Do you call them bottles? flasks? I was all rather sure that there was a specialised name for them; I’m not so sure anymore. I want to use those for my pencils.

I’m looking for nice art. Maybe some natural history would be nice. I’m putting it on one of the walls. Whichever wall remains. Any suggestions? I’m trying to make it a bit compatible with my lumadessa prints and the rest of my furniture.

Right, onto work.

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